Terne
'''Terne '''is a traitoruous member of Princess Anidori's escort to the kingdom of Bayern. Biography When Princess Anidori is sent to wed the Crown Prince of Bayern, Terne volunteers to be part of her royal escort. However, he follows the orders of a fellow guard named Ungolad rather than Captain Talone and agrees to help with the plans of the princess's lady-in-waiting, Selia, to kill Anidori and steal her identity. The Goose Girl Only a week away from Bayern's capital the tension between Ungolad's men and Ani's loyal guards snaps when a supporter of Ungolad's named Yulan removes his shirt in the summer heat. Talone orders him to stay properly dressed while he is in the presence of a lady, but the man refuses and Selia insists she does not mind. Gritting his teeth, Talone states that while they are the princess's guard, they will act as such. Scornfully, Terne points out that they are a long way from Kildenree and Bayern hasn't claimed Ani as their princess yet. He cheers along with several others of Ungolad's men as they hail Selia as their new princess. Realizing that the traitors want to kill Ani in order to replace her with Selia, Talone commands the true princess to escape. However, Selia spots Ani hiding behind a tree and sends Ungolad after her. Talone's right-hand man Adon moves to defend her, but is swiftly killed for his trouble. His death sparks a battle between the two sides, one in which Ungolad's men are ultimately victorious. Although Anidori herself manages to escape into the woods, by midnight Terne and the other victors are digging graves for all the men they have slain. Soon, Terne and the others successfully manage to trick Bayern into believing that Selia is Princess Anidori-Kiladra. Ungolad keeps him and the other Kildenrean guards on the lookout for the real Ani in case she survived the Forest, but there is no sign of her until the Wintermoon festival. Ishta reports that he and Yulan captured a disguised Ani at that very festival, but she managed to escape them with the help of the local peace-keepers, who killed Yulan in the following struggle. Ungolad redoubles the search for Ani as Selia begins to enact her plan that will prevent anyone from Kildenree -including royal envoys, Ani's siblings, and the queen- from ever exposing her. Selia tells the king that Kildenree is plotting to attack Bayern and that she, Princess Anidori, was sent to act as a decoy to pretend all is well and keep Bayern off-guard, but she has grown to like Bayern and doesn't want to be a part of Kildenree's deceitful ways. Outraged, the king prepares Bayern for war. In the meantime, Ungolad and his men search for Ani everywhere they can think of, but no one reports seeing a girl with foreign yellow hair. Their search remains fruitless for weeks until the goose boy is summoned to see the king for valiantly defending his flock from thieves. The boy deliberately seeks out the Kildenrean guards and tells them that the yellow girl they've been looking for is none other than the goose girl he works with. Selia sends Ungolad out that very night, instructing him to kill Ani in her sleep. However, when he returns he is forced to report that she got away, albeit with a dagger wound in her back. Selia isn't pleased at all that her former friend escaped into the deep woods -again- but consoles herself with the fact that Ani's chances of surviving in the Forest with a severe dagger wound are very slim. Terne accompanies his masters to Lake Meginhard, where Selia's wedding to Prince Geric is to take place. Selia bribes the guards at the front gate, just in case Ani shows up with any big ideas. Sure enough, Ani arrives with a sizable escort an attempts to gain access to the king by pretending to be her younger sister Napralina, as an emissary and witness to the wedding. The corrupt guards lead her straight to Selia, who asks Ungolad if he can take her away from the estate quietly. But before he can, the king summons "Napralina" to his presence. Ani does her best to convince him of her true identity, but Selia's voice is too powerful. Eventually, At Geric's suggestion, the king decides to leave Ani alone with her countrymen in the hopes that they will achieve a suitable resolution. As soon as they leave, Selia asks Ungolad to cut her and kill Ani, so that they may claim she attacked. Terne offers to cut her when Ungolad is extremely unwilling to harm his beloved Selia, but Ungolad viciously rejects the idea. Suddenly, they are interrupted by the king, Geric, and some guards, who burst through the tapestry behind them. Geric had remembered that there is a secret passageway behind the throne so that a hidden advisor could whisper clever things to the previous lord of the manor. Geric had convinced his father to hide behind it so that they could overhear every word the Kildenreans said. A panicky Selia tries to cling to her claims of being the true princess, but quickly accepts that it's hopeless. Selia tries to order Ani to persuade the king to let them go, but a windstorm inexplicably swirls to life around Ani, who seems to be controlling it somehow. Ungolad finally loses patience with Ani and attacks, but is distracted when Talone bursts into the room and challenges him to a duel. Talone fights the vicious, maddened Ungolad as the animal-workers acting as "Napralina's" escort rush into the room to help the king's guard fight the Kildenrean traitors. Terne slays a Bayern soldier and sees an opportunity to attack Ani herself, but a sudden javelin in his back ends that plan, and him. Killed by the sheep boy Razo, Terne dies early in the battle. Category:Antagonists Category:Males Category:Kildenrean Category:Goose Girl Characters Category:Deceased Characters Category:People